Along this waterway my great-grandparents came in the 1880’s. They couldn’t speak English too well and they came in search of a better life. They came from Anglesey Island in North Wales. My Grandmother was their youngest. She was born after they settled at Henpeck near present day Sandusky, New York. Every time I see the Erie Canal I think of them and how uncertain their lives were. Grandpa became a US citizen in 1902, four years after my Grandma was born. Great-grandma never did become a citizen. In the pre-social insurance days there was no need. Like all immigrants they were discriminated against. That legacy invites me to welcome others who come here.

“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 22:21